Some
weeks ago we announced a workshop titled "adorable 50s" that was
intended to compare a rich set of bright 50mm primes. Due to the crop of
APS-C and (Micro-)FourThirds sensors, these primes convert to typical
portrait focal lengths and provide the option to take photos indoor at
avalialable light without using a flash and to play with a thin
sharpness area. The comparison should allow you to judge sharpness &
contrast at open aperture as well as their characteristics how
out-of-focus structures in the background are rendered.

Here you find the results of the workshop but firsta fewwords about how it was managed: The workshopwas held inHamburgunder the directionofHelgeHackbarthtogetherwith the lovelymodel Lara-Dias.It included bothan indoor comparison shooting at"avialable light"as well asan outdoorcomparisonunder daylightconditions. A reflector was used in order to establishagood light balancebetween model and background - no flash at all!The locationswerechosen with a versatile background structure in order to be able to assess the rendering of the out-of-focusblur (creaminess,bokeh, etc.)as well as contrast and sharpness of the model in the foreground.

Unfortunatelythreeparticipants dropped out shortly,so that also some exciting lenses that were most welcome alongside the participants were missing (e.g.a LeicaNoctilux50/0.95ASPH, aVoigtlanderNokton50/1.1, a Canon 50/1.2LTM, a Minolta MD Rokkor 50/1.2 and a Jupiter 3 LTM 50/1.5).Nevertheless,alsothe remaining selection gives alreadya good overviewin whichsuchthe rathercheap andpopularOlympusOM/MinoltaMCRokkorcan be compared with upper end priced lenses like the LeicaSummiluxand a prototype of theSLRMagic HyperPrime 50mmCINET0.95.

The
lenses were attached to a Sony NEX-7, a NEX-5n, an Olympos OM-D (E-M5)
and a PEN E-PL1. For the indoor shooting we created a meaningful setup
in a nice bar:

But
pictures speak louder than words. All images you see here, were taken
with the Sony NEX-7 and processed from RAW with identical settings for
contrast and sharpnes. Just some minor adjustments of white balance were
applied. In order to see other sizes you may click on the images:

Sony 50mm 1.8 @ F1.8:

Olympus OM 50mm 1.8 @ F1.8:

Olympus OM 50mm 1.4 @ F1.4:

Minolta MC Rokkor 50mm 1.4 @ F1.4:

Leica Summilux 50mm 1.4 ASPH @ F1.4:

SLR Magic HyperPrime CINE 50mm T0.95 @ F1.4:

SLR Magic HyperPrime CINE 50mm T0.95 @ F0.92:

For
the outdoor part we chosed the "Hamburger Rathaus-Markt" as background.
Fortunately the wheather was good but not too sunny as too bright light
had pushed the cameras over the 1/4000s limit at open aperture of these
bright lenses. This time we start with the Leica Summicron-M 50mm
(pre-ASPH E39 version) which already allows a nice out-of-focus blur
rendering at F2.0 in this situation.

Leica Summicron 50mm 2.0 @ F2.0:

Sony 50m 1.8 OSS @ F1.8:

Olympus OM 50mm 1.8 @ F1.8:

Olympus OM 50mm 1.4 @ F1.4:

Minolta MC Rokkor 50mm 1.4 @ F1.4:

Leica Summilux 50mm 1.4 ASPH @ F1.4:

SLR Magic HyperPrime CINE 50mm T0.95 @ F1.4:

SLR Magic HyperPrime CINE 50mm T0.95 @ F0.92:

Conclusion so far:

The
most potential for out-of-focus blur is provided by the SLR Magic HyperPrime CINE 50mm T0.95
which performs with a creamy bokeh and very good center sharpness/contrast even at open
aperture. The objects in the foreground can be "popped out" from the
background like with no other lens in this test. Precise focussing at
T0.95/F0.92 is a challenge and feels similar to the Leica Noctilux
50/0.95 (which unfortunately missed in this comparison). The colors are
"warmer" compared to most other candidates.

The Leica Summilux
50mm F1.4 ASPH provides best colors for my taste, has a perfect
sharpness even in the edges (although this plays no role in the examples
provided above) and renders a very beautyful and creamy bokeh as well
which covers already most desires for nice out-of-focus blur in a very
compact size. Focussing feels simply good and is quite easy compared to
other lenses. For me it is still the 50/1.4 reference.

The
Olympus OM 50/1.4 as well as the Minolta MC Rokkor-PG 50/1.4 are
significantly "softer" at open aperture and may provide twitchy
structures in the out-of-focus areas.

The Olympus OM 50/1.8
performs better regarding contrast and sharpness. The bokeh is fairly
well but with less potential for out-of-focus blur than their F1.4
siblings.

The Sony SEL 50F18 OSS performs significantly better
than the Olympus OM 50/1.8 regarding contrast/sharpness and persuades
with a creamier bokeh but compared with the Leica Summilux or the
HyperPrime CINE, it has visibly less potential to rip out the portrayed
person from the background.

As
several other potential participants expressed their interest in a
workshop like this, it is planned to repeat that within the next months
with an even larger selection of fast 50mm primes. If you are interested
as well, please let me know by mail to info (at) 3D-Kraft.com .

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